On the other hand, it's easier to repair than an iPod touch.

Cracking open the latest iPod nano, DIY repair experts iFixit have laid bare the device's inner workings. Besides the larger screen and increased storage capacity, the inside is largely filled with a double-size battery; few other changes are apparent. Despite the tight packing of components, however, the seventh-generation nano is still relatively easy to work on.

Unsurprisingly, there aren't any radical changes to this new, oddly larger nano design. An ARM processor from NXP Semiconductors powers the device, though its logic board is dominated by the 16GB Toshiba NAND flash storage chip. Several Apple-branded chips appear to handle digital-to-analog audio conversion, Lightning signals, and power management. A new Broadcom Bluetooth 4.0 module adds Bluetooth compatibility while doing double duty as an FM receiver, and the touchscreen controller is a Texas Instruments IC.

Enlarge/ The massive chip is a 16GB Toshiba NAND flash, and the rectangular chip is an NXP ARM-based system-on-a-chip.

The aluminum case was elongated to fit the larger 2.5" touchscreen, and all the extra space is essentially filled with more battery capacity. The new battery is 0.8Wh, slightly more than double the previous gen's tiny, 0.39Wh battery.

Beyond that, there's really nothing new here at all; no Wi-Fi, no camera, no GPS for runners. It's just a bigger touchscreen iPod nano—with no built-in clip and no way to use it as a watch (a popular use case for the sixth-gen nano).

The tiny upside, at least as far as iFixit is concerned, is that the iPod nano remains more repairable than its much cooler, more expensive iPod touch cousin. iFixit rated the new nano 5/10 (compared to 3/10 for the new touch), even though most components are soldered to the tiny logic board with fragile ribbon cables.

Stay tuned for a more in-depth look at the impact of Apple's design changes for the seventh-gen iPod nano in our upcoming review.